Coma

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Buy This Item Coma by MGM (Video & DVD)  Available from Amazon  $14.95  on 9-20-2008     Something is awry at Boston General Hospital. Dr. Wheeler's (Genevieve Bujold) friend Nancy goes in for a routine procedure, but never comes out of the anesthesia and slips into a coma. Wheeler learns that a tissue sample from the young woman went to the lab, then soon finds out that a high number of patients have become comatose recently. She digs a little deeper and finds a conspiracy mired in hospital politics, running afoul of the head of anesthesia, Dr. George (Rip Torn) and the head of surgery, Dr. Harris (Richard Widmark). Nobody believes the young MD, not even her boyfriend Dr. Bellows (Michael Douglas), but she soon uncovers a black-market trade in body parts, conducted offsite at the Jefferson Institute, a state-of-the-art coma-care facility. As a thriller, <I>Coma</I> certainly has its moments (the scene where a hit man is buried under a pile of frozen-stiff cadavers is an inspired touch), but it's not without its problems. Director Michael Crichton is an MD himself, and the film has a seamless, almost mechanical structure and plotline (taken from the Robin Cook novel). However, the movie's cold, detached feel works against it at times, making the suspense scenes oddly more effective but rendering the emotional content of the characters rather flat. Douglas in particular seems to not put much into his performance; Bujold, on the other hand, is strong and resourceful as the movie's protagonist. More telling, perhaps, is the way that the story shows its age in a time when medical ethics have changed and the phrase "organ harvesting" has made its way into our lexicon. <I>--Jerry Renshaw</I> Reader Reviews I love tough female characters. In COMA, Dr. Wheeler (Genevieve Bujold) is strong, smart, and unwavering in her quest to discover the truth behind the mysterious Jefferson Institute. In spite of the reprimands from her superiors, she keeps digging, ultimately risking her own life, in order to uncover the reason for the inordinate amount of coma cases at Boston General Hospital. Her fellow doctor / boyfriend (played by Michael Douglas), thinks she's just being paranoid. Or is he a part of the conspiracy? COMA is full of interesting characters, including Rip Torn as the mysterious Dr. George; and Elizabeth Ashley as the cold, methodical head of the Jefferson Institute. If you are addicted to thrillers, mysteries, and / or tales of suspense, then COMA may deliver the dose you're craving! Highly recommended... P.S.- Yes, Tom Selleck is in this as a doomed patient. Also watch for Ed Harris (The Abyss, Needful Things) in a tiny role as a pathology lab tech!...

Coma Available from Amazon Price: $14.95 Updated on 9-20-2008.

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